#35 • Let's go live
A few decades of experience and silly questions from a noob. What could go wrong?
You are reading 3Bits & Change, Joseph's email about building a direct to consumer business that supports school lunch debt reduction. Today’s email was written to sounds of the kids playing in the backyard.
Good morning,
As I’ve built my kitchen knife knowhow I’ve also met delightful people in the industry. One of those persons is Tara. Tara has been working in and around kitchen knives for 25+ years. She’s worked at a large multinational, on countless unique engagements and in multiple roles at a regional retail and knife service/sharpening company.
Our conversations have always been wonderful, energetic and informative. We both share a desire to share knife knowhow more easily with homecooks (beyond the typical knife store customer). As we wondered how we might accomplish that we decided to first test something simple. We turned to Instagram live.
Our aim with these tests is to share kitchen knife questions and even miss perceptions that we hear in knife retail and in servicing/sharpening knives while being short, fun and informative.
Take a peek at the three pilot episodes below.
Let me know what you think with your reply.
We hope they help.
Bit #1 •
Hey, Tara. Which are better, German or Japanese knives? (10:14)
Answer: It depends.
Bit #2
Hey, Tara. Do you need the hardest steel possible for your kitchen knives? (7:44)
Answer: It depends.
Bit #3
Hey, Tara. My friend was told he can’t spend anymore money on knives for a while. What do you have to say about that? (7:02)
Answer: It depends.
Sum
There you have it. The answer to most of the divisive knife talk internet-y questions is typically, “it depends.” :) As I’ve been hoping to transition from my Noob status to something more considered it’s been helpful to have Tara’s expertise to assist with putting the pieces of the knife puzzle together. She can so easily help a noob think about the larger picture.
I hope you have a similar experience.
Change
Landlords continue to move slowly. If you ever run past an empty space and wonder if it’ll ever have a tenant just know that this potential tenant has been waiting on replies from three landlords for over a week and chomping at the bit. :)
We opened our email on two separate days last week to find contact form inquiries from customers that live in our area who want to come drop off knives. #signal
A few more states have started the legislative process to pay for the delta between federal funds and the cost of lunch for every student in their state. Yet, as of today, only two states have passed such laws. The federal waivers are set to end this month. The debt balances on student accounts will start to grow again in the Fall.
We’re wrapping our first fundraiser with a district this week. It was a success in that it happened and a handful of families received service while raising money to pay off their district’s student lunch debt. We also learned that the simple act of running the fundraiser provoked direct donations to the program. If you’re inclined to donate directly please do so. Reach out to your Director of Nutrition Services (their contact information is typically easily found on district webpages). They’ll know where you can direct your monies.
We have a brand/logo update project that is wrapping up in the coming week. Standby, we might reach out to you for feedback on the proposed logos.
On Your Way
So, what questions would you like answered by a knife expert and a noob? I’ll ask most anything. Hit reply and I’ll get those questions into rotation with the “Hey, Tara” series.
No, really. Hit reply with your questions. :)
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